Traffic flows under the Lexington Drive stoplight on Rt. 7. Supervisors have voted to create an exit ramp on the south side of Rt. 7 rather than cut off the Lexington Drive connection entirely.
[Renss Greene/Loudoun Now]

Lexington Dr. Intersection Closing Oct. 7

The Lexington Drive traffic signal on Rt. 7 will be switched
off and access to the road closed after the morning rush hour on Oct. 7, county
officials announced Friday, Sept. 13.

The county has been planning to connect Riverside Parkway, north of Rt. 7 from Leesburg to Lexington Drive, to Loudoun County Parkway since 2013. Part of that work will be closing off the intersection at Lexington Drive and Rt. 7 as part of an overarching project to install interchanges at signalized intersections on Rt. 7 west of Rt. 28 to keep traffic moving.

Drivers instead will have to use the interchanges on either side of the Lexington Drive intersection, at Ashburn Village Boulevard and Loudoun County Parkway, to get to Riverside Drive and to businesses off Rt. 7 like Blue Mount Nursery.

In January, supervisors voted to allow a right-hand turn off of Rt. 7 eastbound, giving drivers easy access to properties to the south, if the private sector builds that turn. Supervisor Ron A. Meyer Jr. (R-Broad Run), who proposed that change of plans, said that option is still open and he believes there is intent to do so.

He had pushed to allow right-in, right-out turns to both the north and south, but other supervisors opposed that idea.

“I still believe that’s the best thing for all the residents and all business that are impacted,” Meyer said.

The October date is a result of work to accelerate the project schedule, which originally would not have seen the intersection closed until work on Riverside Parkway was done. The project to close the intersection had been delayed into 2020 because of problems with the bidding process to find a contractor, but staff members from the county and Virginia Department of Transportation worked out a plan to move the schedule back up. VDOT will use its own contractors, which are always on standby, to begin the work while the county finds its own contractor to finish the work, reimbursing the state for its work.

Work to build the final portion of Riverside Parkway to Loudoun County Parkway is scheduled to begin in fall 2019.